


a sky full of stars

by crowquake



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Raphael!Crowley, Woo they love each other, im rusty lol, not that I’m perfect in the first place, this was more to get me into the swing of writing ship stuff again than anything actually serious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-16 13:37:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19319287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crowquake/pseuds/crowquake
Summary: There were many things that should be known about the demon, Crowley. The first, and the one he tried to hide very well and yet failed very spectacularly, was that he was a good person. The second, that he tried to hide very well and succeeded, was that he didn’t actually rebel. He simply got too curious for Gods liking, though that wasn’t very hard in the old days. All he did was ask a few questions, and he was cast out like a possum found digging through garbage.The third, was that Crowley did not like questions. Either asking, or being asked them. Three guesses as to why. Thankfully, he never had to ask for or about much anymore. He and Aziraphale had a sort of silent communication system that involved a lot of pointed looks. He would, on occasion, request things, but in his mind this was different from asking for something because a request is far more open-ended.Anyway, I digress. There is one more important thing you need to know about Crowley, and that is what this particular story is going to be about.





	1. How the mighty fall

**Author's Note:**

> Yeehaw first GO fic, hopefully it’s decent. It is unedited for the most part because it’s 2:30am and I just wanna get it out there, so you’ll have to forgive me any errors.

There were many things that should be known about the demon, Crowley. The first, and the one he tried to hide very well and yet failed very spectacularly, was that he was a good person. The second, that he tried to hide very well and succeeded, was that he didn’t actually rebel. He simply got too curious for Gods liking, though that wasn’t very hard in the old days. All he did was ask a few questions, and he was cast out like a possum found digging through garbage.

 

The third, was that Crowley did not like questions. Either asking, or being asked them. Three guesses as to why. Thankfully, he never had to ask for or about much anymore. He and Aziraphale had a sort of silent communication system that involved a lot of pointed looks. He would, on occasion, request things, but in his mind this was different from asking for something because a request is far more open-ended.

 

Anyway, I digress. There is one more important thing you need to know about Crowley, and that is what this particular story is going to be about.

 

—————

 

**_5 years before Eden_ **

 

It was a nice day, in Heaven. Every day had been nice; it was rather impossible for there to be a bad day. That was the whole idea.

 

Raphael was going about his duties, overseeing the creation of new stars, tending to the healing herbs in his personal garden, general Archangel stuff. It was quite a pleasant time, as was to be expected. He had heard there was a new batch of angels being made today, these ones called _Principalities_. An interesting name choice, to be sure. It made the Archangel curious as to what unique properties they would hold.

 

There was always some kind of ceremony when a new subset of angel was to be introduced, and Raphael often found himself attending. He was usually the only Archangel who did, however, as the likes of Gabriel and Michael were always too busy for such frivolous nonsense, as they put it. What did it matter if they saw it or not? They’d end up meeting all the new angels anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal to them. Raphael always said he simply liked the spectacle, and while that was partially true, there was also his curious nature to blame.

 

You see, almost every angel is created differently. Not even just their general make-up and mould, they were each individually hand crafted by God Herself and brought into the kingdom of Heaven in different ways that would shape who they would become.

 

Raphael remembered his creation fondly, feeling the love radiating off of The Almighty as She finished sculpting him. She smiled at him, and told him to never be afraid. He still didn’t know what 'afraid' meant, so he assumed he had followed Her instructions well thus far.

 

He arrived at the ceremony hall, and sat down behind a group of lower angels, who happily allowed him into their conversation. They were excitedly chattering about the new angels. Raphael felt a fondness in his heart for the lower angels, he always liked them so much better than the other Archangels. They were kinder, seemed happier. Of course, every angel, regardless of rank, was happy. They didn’t know how to feel anything else. He supposed it came more down to personality.

 

The room hushed. It was time.

 

The light that seemed to emanate from everywhere grew brighter and brighter still, until they couldn’t see at all. None of them needed to close their eyes, blindness hadn’t been invented yet. The voice of God boomed through the large room.

 

"Welcome, my children, the Principalities of the Heavenly Realm, to your new home."

 

The light slowly faded, and there, standing in the middle of the room was a group of angels. They looked remarkably like the lower ranking angels, but Raphael was sure they had to have some special purpose or power to get a name like Principalities. It sounded important, at the very least. Big words like that generally did.

 

The ceremony continued, each of the new angels being gifted a name, a crown, and a sceptre by the various Powers attending. One of the Principalities, who had been gifted the name Aziraphale, tripped and fell on his face immediately after getting his name. He dropped his crown and sceptre, and Raphael quickly jumped over the bench in front of himself to help. Aziraphale looked awfully embarrassed, though he needn’t have been. It was common for new angels to have trouble with their footing at first.

 

"Oh- yes, thank you-" Aziraphale started, prompting Raphael for a name.

 

"Raphael."

 

"Raphael, yes," The Principality nodded decisively, before looking around in confusion, "um, you wouldn’t happen to know what I’m supposed to do now, do you?"

 

"Well, I suppose we should find you somewhere to live," Raphael smiled, "don’t worry, there’s no real rules to the living arrangements, if you find a free room that you like, it’s yours. Though, the Seraphim and Archangels like me do tend to end up with the better rooms somehow." The other angels eyes widened.

 

"Y-you’re an Archangel?"

 

"Yeah, but don’t fret. I’m the nice one!" He grinned, showing off a sharp set of fangs. It didn’t seem to phase Aziraphale, who smiled softly back.

 

"Well, I suppose that’s good to know."

 

"Would you like me to help you find a place, so you can put those away," Raphael gestured at the sceptre and crown bundled in Aziraphales arms, "and then I could give you a bit of a tour?"

 

"Oh yes, that sounds lovely!"

 

—————

 

**_3 years before Eden_ **

 

Raphael had been so busy helping God build the garden she needed for the new creatures she was creating, he almost felt tired. He didn’t have that word for it, though, so he called it drained. Drained of energy, like a plant without sunlight. He supposed it was descriptive enough.

 

However, when Aziraphale asked him to go out stargazing that night, he couldn’t refuse. Aziraphale loved to look at the stars, especially hearing the stories behind the ones Raphael had had a hand in creating. Talking to Aziraphale was as good as resting for the Archangel, anyway. It certainly made him feel better.

 

Tonight, they spoke of the garden. Raphael told Aziraphale of his favourite of the creatures he had made. They didn’t have names, yet, but he had modeled them after himself. Long and thin, with scales, forked tongues, large fangs, bright eyes and slit pupils. He had made two versions, one with legs and no fangs, and what he considered the better version. He would probably tweak the legged one a bit so it wasn’t exactly the same, though.

 

Aziraphale paid rapt attention. Raphael didn’t know why the lower ranking angel enjoyed listening to him talk so much, but he supposed he didn’t mind. He rather enjoyed talking, as it were. The only other angel who really listened to him was Lucifer, but he didn’t let Raphael talk about stars or scaly creatures, he always steered the conversation towards things angels really shouldn’t be discussing.

 

Raphael wasn’t afraid, though. He finally learnt what that word meant when a small furry creature with long ears had run away from one of his creations. When he asked God why, She said the furry creature was afraid the scaly one was going to harm it. So, he figured ‘afraid’ meant ‘thinking something bad is going to happen’, which was close enough that he knew he hadn’t felt it yet.

 

He and Aziraphale ended up lying on the grass in silence, for a while. The observatory was a garden of its own, though of course all the larger vegetation was closer to the walls.

 

“What do you think the new creatures God is creating are going to look like?” Aziraphale asked, breaking the silence.

 

“Well, She said She was creating them in Her image, so I imagine similar to Her.” Raphael yawned. He may feel better, but he was still tired.

 

“What was that?” Aziraphale frowned.

 

“I’m not sure. I tend to do it when I’ve been working a lot and getting less sleep.”

 

“Huh.”

 

They fell back into silence, the stars blinking idly above them.

 

—————

 

**_1 year before Eden_ **

 

The Archangel screamed.

 

There was nothing else he could do, as he plummeted closer and closer to the ground. His large black wings had stopped working, it seemed. He couldn’t even catch a breeze to slow his fall.

 

He had Fallen with a capital F. He knew he shouldn’t have enabled Lucifer’s fantasies. He knew he shouldn’t have questioned God. She always knew best, who was he to ask Her why She did what She did? This was all hindsight, however. Nothing he could do about it now.

 

He hit the surface of a boiling pool of something that smelt awful. His mind supplied him with the word sulphur.

 

He thrashed around in the sulphur as it seemed to seep into every part of his body it could. He felt like he was on fire, which he very likely was. His mind supplied him with the word Hell.

 

He kept screaming, and he faintly realised he could hear other screaming around him. This was the first time any of them had felt pain, or sorrow. He wondered what they had become, that God let them feel this suffering.

 

His mind supplied him with the word demon.

 

After what felt like an eternity, and very likely could have been, the pain finally numbed enough that he was able to drag himself to where he hoped some kind of land was. He crawled up onto the side of the pool, not unlike one of the creatures he had created.

 

He thought about Aziraphale. Of course, instead of wondering how he could help himself, he worried about his friend. Raphael seemed to be the only person Aziraphale trusted and talked to on a regular basis. What was he going to do now?

 

Raphael lay there for a while, trying to drown out the screams around him with thoughts of his friend.


	2. How the mighty fall in love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No slow burn in my lobby  
> Jk I love slow burn but I wanted this to be pretty short and I kinda suck at pacing so this is what you get lol
> 
> Also apologies for any mistakes, I wrote this all in one go while very tired and I will likely look at it tomorrow and Weep

It was a long while before Raphael was able to see the sun again. A whole year, in fact. He heard that The Garden was finally complete, and of course he was the first to volunteer to go up and stir shit up. He was cold down here.

 

He needed a disguise, though. After thinking for a longer while than probably was necessary, he decided to take on the appearance of one of the animals he had created. He still didn’t know what to call it, but he didn’t doubt the other creatures God had created had a name for them. He was sad he never got to see their creation; it was surely more spectacular than that of the creation of a boring ol' angel.

 

He closed his golden eyes and concentrated, thinking of scales and too many bones and venomous fangs. He felt himself fully morph into a snake, as he would later find out they’re called. He opened his eyes to begin slithering towards the surface to see what havoc he could wreak.

 

It wasn’t long before he burst through the ground, blinking in the bright sunlight. It was almost blinding, even when not looking directly at it. It was so dark down below, he had to allow himself a few minutes for his eyes to adjust. He slithered his way under a shady tree to make the transition a bit easier on himself.

 

The tree he shaded himself under just so happened to be an apple tree.  _ The _ apple tree. After inspecting it for a moment, he got an idea.

 

—————

 

"Well, that went down like a lead balloon." Raphael said, calmly as he could with his old friend so  _ close _ to him after all this time.

 

"Sorry, what was that?" Aziraphale asked. Raphael couldn’t tell if he recognised him or not.  _ He couldn’t look that different, could he? _

 

"I said, well that went down like a lead balloon."

 

"Ah, yes yes, it did, rather." 

 

"Bit of an overreaction if you ask me." Raphael scowled. A lot of reactions God had were very 'over' as it were. "First offence and everything I don’t... I can’t see what’s so bad about knowing the difference between good and evil anyways."

 

"Well it must  _ be _ bad..." Aziraphale paused, prompting him for a name. Raphael’s heart sunk. Did he really look that different? Or had Aziraphale simply forgotten him altogether? Aziraphale wasn’t one to forget things. 

 

It only took him a seconds thought before he provided the name Crawly. It would suit well enough, at least for now. The other demons had called him all manner of things, none of which sounded nice as names. So, he went with what his beloved snakes did. Crawling along the ground.

 

He wasn’t sure why he didn’t tell Aziraphale he was Raphael straight up. He supposed, if the angel remembered who he was at all, it would break his heart to know his most trusted friend had Fallen. 

 

—————

 

**_Modern Day_ **

 

Crowley leaned his head back against the armrest of the couch he was lying on, letting out a soft sigh. Aziraphale turned from the bookshelf he was dusting to raise an eyebrow at his friend.

 

"Are you alright?" The angel asked. Something about the more subtle noise had caught his attention more than Crowley’s dramatic sighing and complaints ever could. Possibly because he could tell the demon wasn’t just attention seeking for the sake of it.

 

"Yeah, just... remembering some stuff," he closed his eyes, for once not hidden by his glasses, "old stuff, from... before we met." He forced his voice to stay steady. There wasn’t really a 'before they met' for Aziraphale, but the angel didn’t know that.

 

"Like what?" Aziraphale tilted his head, "there can’t have been a whole lot, we’re about the same age, right?" Crowley frowned.

 

"Angel... how old do you think I am?"

 

"Um, six thousand and... twenty something? I never put much thought into it."

 

"You’re six thousand and twenty four. I’m six thousand, two hundred, and fifteen. Roughly." He opened his eyes and sat up, but still avoided looking at the other celestial.

 

"You’re really that much older than me? That’s... unexpected." He set down his feather duster to give Crowley all of his attention. "What kind of things were you remembering?"

 

Crowley chewed his lip, thinking about how much he should say. Would it be wise to just spill everything? They were on the subject after all, no better time to bring it up than now. But was he ready to do that? He had no idea.

 

"Well, one thing was... there used to be these ceremony things whenever a new type of angel was introduced. Thrones, Principalities, A-Archangels, and whatnot," he tripped over the last one, and prayed (ugh) that Azira hadn’t noticed, "I always liked going to those. It was interesting. I don’t know if you remember that, but I remember all of them." Blurting everything out it was, then.

 

"I do. I remember mine quite well, actually," Aziraphale frowned slightly, "I think I tripped over my own feet at one point."

 

"Yeah, you did," Crowley smiled fondly, "most new angels were clumsy, so it wasn’t a big deal."

 

"Mm. Anything else?"

 

"Uh, I helped create Eden," he laughed to himself at the shock on the angels face, "I made all the reptiles. I also helped build the night sky, nebulae were probably my favourites."

 

"You..." Azira frowned deeply, staring down at nothing, "you’re..." he squeezed his eyes shut.

 

"I probably talked far too much about my projects, but there was always somebody who would listen," Crowley was looking at the angel now, that soft look on his face that he reserved just for Aziraphale, "when I Fell, I thought I’d never see him again."

 

"R... Raphael?" Aziraphale looked up, an unreadable expression on his face. Crowley let out a breath, whether in relief or as a sort of humourless laugh, he didn’t know.

 

"Took you long enough."

 

And before he knew it, Aziraphale had his arms wrapped around him. Crowley had frozen in shock, but quickly relaxed and returned the hug, burying his face in the angels shoulder.

 

"I’m so sorry, Crowley. I don’t know how I could’ve forgotten you so quickly."

 

"Divine intervention, is my guess." Crowley mumbled. He could feel the love pouring off of Aziraphale in waves, even moreso than usual.  _ What did this mean? _ The angel pulled back after a minute and just looked the demon in the eyes.

 

"I cannot believe didn’t recognise you."

 

"It’s not like it matters now. We ended up friends again anyways, right?"

 

"Right."

 

—————

 

That night, they laid together on the roof of the bookshop, under a sky full of blinking stars, while Crowley told Aziraphale the stories behind each of them.

 

"And that one," Crowley pointed at a bright blue one, "I made that one just for you. It’s the same colour as your eyes. I never got to tell you that, though."

 

"I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me until now, about you being Raphael." Aziraphale mumbled. He hoped Crowley couldn’t see him blushing.

 

"I didn’t think I could. I thought it would hurt you, somehow." The demon sighed.

 

"Hurt me? Why would it hurt me?"

 

"I dunno. Just thought it’d upset you if you knew someone you trusted so much had kinda betrayed you." His voice was soft, and it reminded Aziraphale of that night at the bus stop, after the Armageddon’t.  _ You can stay at my place, if you like. _

 

"I suppose that’s sound reasoning," the angel raised his eyebrows, "but, an unfounded concern."

 

"Clearly."

 

They were silent, for a while. It felt comfortable and somehow warm, like a blanket. Crowley found himself inching closer to Aziraphale, for the physical warmth and to feel those waves of love again. It was the pure, unfiltered love of an angel, something he hadn’t been able to feel himself in a long time. He got flashes of it, on occasion, when he brushed up against Aziraphale by accident, but that wasn’t often.

 

The angel moved his hand to lightly hold the demons, lacing their fingers together. Crowley visibly relaxed. 

 

This felt right.

 

"I always loved you, you know," Crowley whispered, "or at least, as close as a demon can get to love." The kind of love that didn’t feel quite right in his chest, most likely because it was a pure, positive feeling, to the point where he squashed it down to a shell of the emotion it once was.

 

Aziraphale gave Crowley that soft smile he had, and Crowley felt like he was going to melt and drip right off the rooftop. Best not think about that too much though, in case it actually happened.

 

"I think you’d be quite good at love, if you let yourself feel it properly," he glanced down at their joined hands, "though I suppose I could help with that." The two of them laughed softly.

 

There was another silence, Crowley staring at the stars while Aziraphale gazed at the demon, fascinated by the reflections in his golden eyes.

 

"I think I always loved you too, Crowley," the angel started as the sky began to lighten, "I just didn’t think I could let myself. Not only because you’re a demon, but I always felt as though I was clinging to something from my past that I couldn’t quite reach or let go of.”

 

"So... you wouldn’t let yourself love me, because you were already in love with me?" 

 

"Put rather confusingly, yes."

 

"Pfft."

 

"Well, it’s not like I knew."

 

"Fair point."

 

They watched the stars wink out one by one, for a brief moment content with their place in the universe. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I’d imagine the ceremony room to be somewhat reminiscent of an American school gymnasium


End file.
